Syria

Before dawn on September 23, US military forces were joined by several Gulf coalition partners in striking Islamic State targets in northern Syria. The strikes began with a flurry of 47 Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from the cruiser USS Philippine Sea (CG 58) and destroyer USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51), followed by two waves of…

While the Pentagon refuses to put a price tag on the almost 4,000 air missions US warplanes and drones have flown over Iraq and Syria since early August, analysts have tried to step in and fill the hole. The latest to enter the fray is Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments,…

NATO members are gathering for their 2014 summit in Wales this week, and tensions are higher than usual. Topics are expected to include Russia’s destabilization of Ukraine, the Syrian Civil War, Islamic militants, and even aggressive territorial claims by China. Just in time for the summit, Vago gathered an expert roundtable to preview the discussions on Defense News…

ESSAY If Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky runs for the Republican presidential nomination, his biggest critic just might be Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., who once again is sharply criticizing the tea party darling’s foreign policy views.

During the nine days of the initial round of talks between the Syrian regime and a coalition of rebel groups, almost 1,900 people were killed across the country in continuing violence, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Friday. There wasn’t much optimism among participants as the talks broke up until Feb 10, with…

There are four Norwegian and Danish ships are getting ready to leave the Cyprian port of Limassol this weekend to take up positions off the Syrian coast, waiting for the word to pull into the Syrian port of Latakia to begin loading up to 700 metric tons of chemical weapons and precursor materials for destruction.…

ESSAY Second terms for U.S. presidents are tough. One’s domestic political capital quickly burns off after his Election Day mandate is forgotten by political friends and foes. So presidents often become “foreign-policy presidents” in their final years in the Oval Office. Things were heading in that familiar direction for Barack Obama. But there are signs…

UN weapons inspectors could soon begin the arduous and tense work of locating and seizing Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons. But the head of the Pentagon’s top intelligence organization wants everyone watching the Syria-US-Russia drama to know one thing: It’s going to take a long time to get those weapons out of the country.

Now that Syria’s chemical weapons—and not the fact that the regime of Bashar Al-Assad has killed over 100,000 of his own citizens over the past two years—is the main question facing American policymakers and diplomats at the UN, the issue of securing and disposing of those weapons is the new big topic in Washington. Speaking…

Sen. Bob Corker is, as they say in Washington, a player. After all, he’s been at the forefront of efforts to overhaul the nation’s immigration system, strike a grand bargain fiscal deal, and most recently, craft a Syria use-of-force measure both parties could support. The congenial Tennessee Republican portrays an image that is one part…